I received a call "Daddy my bike is making strange noises, it's still idleing, but something's wrong", "Turn it Off" was my reply. Now that statement was a little too late, the damage was done. I picked the bike up and trailered it home. As he said it was still running, I wasn't quite sure what to expect. A brief exterior inspection revealed no oil or other fluid leaks. One jab of the starter button and immediately I knew something was wrong.

My Son wouldn't admit that the problem was caused by an excessively long wheelie, but eventually, several months later, I got a half truth out of him.

The oil pickup is in the front of the sump, so if you pull a nice 45 degree wheelie, pretty quickly the oil pick up will be sucking air. On replacing the engine, as the original would have cost too much to repair, we noticed two SIGNIFICANT Triumph upgrades. First, the original sump gasket was a perimeter gasket, the upgraded one is a sheet that kind of puts a lid on the sump. I believe this stops the oil following to the back of the engine and keeps the oil pickup firmly immersed in the sump oil. Second, Triumph shortened the oil dip stick by about an inch, this means you have to put about an extra quart of oil in the engine for it to register on the dip stick. This means you have a deeper puddle of oil in the sump for the oil pick up.